Jar Of Hearts
by xXBeckyFoo
Summary: One day she hoped that love would be kind to her, and if it wasn't, that she'd be strong enough to move past it. Except, she'd never anticipated how fast it would come and how hard it would hurt. ONESHOT.


**Jar of Hearts.**

_Oneshot._

* * *

><p>Love comes and goes.<p>

The elderly, those who've lived a century, two, or three have proclaimed it, knew that in one's life you'll fall in love multiple times. That sometimes it will be the real thing, sometimes an effort of it, or just a passionate lust disguising itself as love.

She enjoyed listening to her grandmother—both Weasley and Delacour—reminisce about those old flames, the ones that made them live adventures, exciting thrills, ones that they had long before their husbands came to their lives.

And there are occasions, as she'd once heard from her Grandmother Molly, of when one has the fortune to fall in love, that one has the misfortune of suffering heartbreak. Both overwhelming emotions going hand in hand with one another, sort of like winter and summer.

She'd watch silently as her grandmother lost her gaze somewhere far away, thinking back to the memory of the one before her Grandfather Arthur, a man who shattered her heart long ago.

But it was in the instant, when she came back to the present, her ears perked at the voice of her husband ringing in the air, discussing a subject filled with muggle-lectures to their grandchildren that were willing to listen, that the girl knew that for every heartbreak there was a remedy.

One day, she hoped, that love would be kind to her, and if it wasn't, that she'd be strong enough to move past it.

Except, she'd never anticipated how fast it would come and how hard it would hurt.

_I know I can't take one more step towards you _

_'Cause all that's waiting is regret _

_And don't you know I'm not your ghost anymore? _

_You lost the love I loved the most_

It was supposed to be a secret, it was supposed to be the most treasured gem in a chest filled with grains of sand. It was supposed to be only theirs, no one else's. It was so fiery, so magical, so intense, no one had to know about it.

The world couldn't handle such an emotion, such unity of two souls, he had promised. Their love was sacred, and just like it was holy, it had to be kept away from those who would attempt to destroy it.

'_It's just you and I, forever," _he had whispered so gently, so softly into her ear that she believed it.

Feeling a lurching pressure tug on her insides, she cleared her throat like she was pushing away the memory. Her eyes scanning her surroundings, finding herself alone once again. The echoes of voices, of those memories, getting louder and louder with solitary.

She'd been sitting in the library for an hour, or maybe two, she didn't really register time anymore so she wasn't sure. It all just seemed to drag out, never really ending, never really beginning. How could it? How could she move forward when she wanted to move back?

Time didn't exist for those who were stuck, as she'd figured out ages ago.

All she did know was that she was supposed to be studying for her final exams, but just as she had started reading about the elements in a theory that she should've already mastered in her Sixth Year at Hogwarts, she caught a flare of intensely-colored hair a yard away; chatting away so casually with a familiar Ravenclaw Prefect.

"Liar."

"No, no, I'm being honest here, Vic." The boy with colored hair had chuckled, putting a palm an inch above her head, both of them leaning against the edge of a bookcase. (Well, he practically leaning on her.) "Your eyes are honestly the brightest things that I've ever seen, and you know how much I love studying the stars. You beat those out in an instant."

The girl on that library table pursed her lips, swallowing a knot as one of those tormenting echoes sounded off inside her head.

'_You see those stars, those way up high?'_

'_The entire sky is covered with them.'_

'_Yeah, that may be true, Miss Know-It-All, but none of them…none of them outshine the beauty in _your _eyes.'_

The Ravenclaw witch rolled her eyes, but giggled with shyness. Her pale complexion glittered with flattery. "You're being so sweet lately, Ted. Where was that charming boy when we were growing up?"

Grinning widely at the pink hue appearing at the apple of her cheeks, Teddy Lupin shrugged casually as he leaned a centimeter closer. "Oh, it was always there. It's just, we were kids, Victorie, and by law you were contaminated with cooties."

Victorie Weasley laughed beautifully again, her giggles enchanting those that reached their ears. She was a dazzling sight, obviously, her part-veela blood sure enhanced her features amazingly. But it just wasn't that with her, it was her alluring eyes, her kindness and pure heart.

She was the catch, the prey, the one every one wanted to love.

"If I recall, Lupin, it was also a threat Dad gave you when we were eleven and we were off to Hogwarts together, remember?"

Teddy grinned crookedly, shrugging casually. "Yeah, but we aren't eleven anymore, right? Besides, Bill loves me. I'm the one who's—" Just as he was about to remind the blonde why her father adored him to pieces, his eyes caught the sight of a girl watching them; watching him.

And taking his silence with a bit of confusion, Victorie turned towards the direction Teddy was staring in; his gaze reflecting something that she was sure appeared to be irritation. And just as her eyes landed on that same girl, Victorie lit up with something that was the opposite of annoyance. "Dominique!"

The girl on the table shut her books softly, aiming an awkward smile at her sister as the latter waved at her happily.

"Let's go catch up with, Dom, yeah? I haven't spoken to her in ages, she's been hiding out," Victorie told her fellow Seventh Year, but knitted her eyebrows as he took a step back.

"I'm going to go get a book from the Restricted Section, alright, you girls start on without me. I'll be right there," Teddy responded, giving the Ravenclaw a forced smile.

But from a few yards away, just as Victorie had shrugged and proceeded to walk towards the direction of the table, Dominique noticed Teddy heading towards the exit of the library, rolling his eyes.

It was always better to escape your problems than to face them, that's something Dominique discovered happened to most in relationships.

_And I learned to live half-alive, _

_And now you want me one more time_

There was a lot of things she'd learned during her sixteen years of life, most about the importance of family, the respect for every individual, and fighting for happiness and love. There was so much she knew, so much good, and one of those lessons were trust those who love you forever; who love you unconditionally.

She knew she should've said something from the very beginning. She knew that sharing something that made her so happy, that brought her so much joy was meant to be shared with those that she loved, so they could celebrate her happiness. That's how things worked all of her life—so why didn't she do it?

Dominique sat on a chair, not really paying attention to all the commotion going around in her dormitory, all she could really see was her mother and her sister; Fleur and Gabrielle Delacour.

There was a lot of age difference between the two women, but there was nothing that Fleur did not know about Gabrielle's life, and vice versa. They shared everything with each other: secrets, joys, sadness, memories, arguments, points-of-view, just anything in general. Because that's what sisters did, that was the code.

So why hadn't she followed it?

"Dom, seriously?" With a bang of the dormitory-door, a non-Gryffindor witch walked into the room; carrying a basket of girly-goodies. "Molly, you were supposed to help her get ready."

From her four-poster, coming out from underneath the bed, Molly Weasley looked victorious as she found a pair of shoes she'd been missing for a while. "Oi, don't blame me. I told her to get ready ages ago, she just chose to sit there."

"Either way, Molls, you could've helped," Victorie scolded her redheaded cousin like she was a three year-old. "…You know she's been sulking for a while now."

Inhaling a puff of air through her nostrils, Dominique chose to remain silent at the whisper that her older sister assumed she could not hear. (Not even when they were separated by two inches.)

"And that's why we're taking her to that clandestine party at the Hufflepuffs Common Room."

"Yeah, who would've thought they were a bunch of party-animals?" Another witch commented from the background after Molly.

Victorie rolled her eyes, turning around towards the quiet girl. "…Are you alright?" She asked softly as she bent down in front of her, lowering the basket next to her and taking out a compact and make-up brush. "We can talk about it, Dom, whatever it is."

Looking into the glittering blue eyes of her sister, staring at the intensity, at the beauty and honesty that shone like sapphires, Dominique couldn't help but to feel a knot of torturing emotions tangle at the center of her voice-box.

"We're sisters, you can tell me anything," Victorie whispered again.

The pain would be less, Dominique calculated. She'd feel lighter, like a pressure was lifted off of her shoulders. She knew one mustn't carry the weight of a broken heart. She could trust Victorie, she could.

Then why, if without a doubt she trusted her sister with her life, did she sit taller on the chair and pull on a smile like the sun was shining on her after a rainstorm.

'_Oi, come on now. Turn that frown upside down, show the world that enchanting smile, my love. That's how you captivated me.' _(Oh, that's why. That boy.)

Victorie sighed a little, nodding once at that smile on the girl's face. "Alright, Dom." She pulled on a smile too, both equally as fake. "I'll get started on your make-up and Molly will choose something for you to wear, yeah?"

Dominique nodded, closing her eyes as she felt the hair of the brush grace the skin of her face gently.

Sometimes in love, you have to pretend like everything's perfectly fine; like you're not dying to scream out.

_And who do you think you are? _

_Running around leaving scars_

_ Collecting your jar of hearts _

_And tearing love apart_

Slytherins were supposed to be the cruel ones; the maleficent ones. The ones that were supposed to be hard as rocks, the least loyal of friends.

Ravenclaws were supposed to be the quiet ones; the intelligent ones out of the lot. The ones that enjoyed enhancing their wisdom, preferring to have intellectual conversations that go somewhere instead of wasting their valuable time.

Gryffindors were supposed to be the mental ones; the ones that added flare and spice to the casual. The ones that were brave, that sometimes just didn't give a bloody hell about anything.

And Hufflepuffs? They definitely were _not _stereotyped into being this wild, this insane.

But as she sat on one of the armchairs of their common room, shrinking back into her chair as one of their Prefects started chugging Firewhiskey like it was water and he was caught in the middle of a desert, Dominique knew that all the supposed-to-be's of the four houses flew out the window.

This secret party, in which only a selected few from every house were invited to celebrate Hufflepuffs victory of the Quidditch House-Cup, was certainly the craziest uproar to happen at Hogwarts since the past three years. And she'd been a witness to her cousin's, James Potter, skinny-dipping rendezvous at the Black Lake. (And he was just a Third Year then.)

"—You, little Alice Longbottom, are _hot_!"

From her seat, Dominique removed her attention from the now-really-drunk Hufflepuff to the buzzed blonde impeding a witch's path towards her dormitory.

Alice Longbottom frowned at the boy, crossing her arms as he wobbled in his stance. "If you wanted to hit on me, Weasley, please do it when you're not intoxicated."

"Intoxicated? _Me_?" Louis let out a giant scoff, his eyes popping out as he almost lost his balance and he had to clutch on to her arms for safety. "Oi, Alice, we should go to your four-poster and—" The rest of his crude remark was cutoff as Alice shoved him backwards, making him fall with a _thud _on the common room's floor.

Coming down the staircase of the dormitories, James appeared with a smug grin; laughing loudly at Louis. "Alright there, mate?"

"She—She should be flattered I talked to her," Louis slurred, gripping on to James' shoulders as the dark-haired Gryffindor helped him up the ground. "If I hadn't had those five shots of Firewhiskey, I wouldn't have told her she was pretty."

James patted his blonde cousin on the head slowly. "Yes, well, liquor tends to make witches appear more attractive than what they really are," he said. "Why do you think I went up there with that girl, what's-her-name? I'll be fortunate if I don't remember tomorrow."

Following with her eyes as the two tried to walk their way towards the exit of the Hufflepuffs headquarters, she caught sight of a different scene. Of another watcher, of another person staring at the people causing havoc, just sitting a few feet away.

Raising an eyebrow, she saw that the onlooker was subtly staring at two Ravenclaws in a corner; one of them seeming to be pep-talking the other. Both looking at the direction of the boy who was trying to pretend he wasn't observing them.

"Just go talk to him," the pep-talker was heard encouraging the other, even through the loud noise.

"…I can't. I wouldn't know what to say."

The Ravenclaw rolled her eyes. "You've known him for five years, I'm sure you can come up with something, Rose."

But the girl shook her head, looking unconvinced. "I _saw _him five years ago, I never really talked to him."

The other Ravenclaw grunted. "He's your cousin's friend, right? Just act like you're looking for him."

"I can't!" Rose squeaked, shaking her red waves and hurrying away from her fellow house-mate, shyness evaporating into the air as the trail she left behind.

And just as Dominique watched her cousin race away, she noticed that her would-be target relaxed his tensed shoulders, looking more calm as he slouched on his seat. But just as he did, their eyes met.

A strange jolt passed between the two, almost like it'd made an impact in that quick second.

Letting out a cough, she blinked down feeling instantly uncomfortable.

In the moment she looked down at her lap, someone appeared in front of her. A musky scent combined with the bitter smell of alcohol crawled towards her nose, sending her heart pounding.

"Not enjoying the party?" And as she looked up, all against her will, she found a pair of intense eyes staring at her; their orange-y color fading into a brown as a few seconds ticked by. "Figures, most non-drinkers have gone to bed now."

Dominique pressed her lips into a tight line, her heart thumping harder and painfully. It had been a while, maybe two weeks, since she last had the honor of having him so close; of him speaking to her. She felt like someone had just drenched her with freezing water, her mind racing.

"I miss you," to add to her internal breakdown, he had to murmur three words that caused her heart to sink inside her chest. "I miss you so much, Dom."

She swallowed, hoping that knot of sentiments would dissolve. It didn't. All she could do was stare at him, her heart wanting to jump out and attack him.

Teddy inhaled softly, still staring at her like if he was pouring his heart out to her. "Remember what I told you when I went on holiday with my Grandmum 'Dromeda?"

She blinked once, the echo of his voice piercing her eardrums as the memory of it played.

'_I don't know how I'm going to survive a week without you. You're my everything. I need you with me at all times.'_

Her nose began to burn from tears she was trying to hold in, of course she remembered, she always remembered. So she gave him a nod, blinking down again to try and catch some of her bravery.

"…I meant it then like I mean it now." Feeling the silky touch of his fingertips running at the side of her cheek, she looked back up instantly to see his brown eyes fade into a dazzling green; matching hers. "Always."

Thinking that her heart could not beat any louder, any faster, she felt it go overload when he took her hand; pulling her up courteously from her seat.

"Come on, let's go somewhere quiet."

And just as they began to disappear away from the party that was surely a few minutes away from getting discovered by Mrs. Norris, Dominique discovered something as she felt Teddy give her fingers a squeeze. And that was that sometimes in relationships you have to cry a few times but in the end it always works itself out.

_You're gonna catch a cold _

_From the ice inside your soul _

_So don't come back for me_

_ Who do you think you are?_

It had been sweet, it had been all that she had been hoping for.

She didn't know why she had let herself cry before, why she had let something like a nonexistent heartbreak ruin something that was completely perfect. Because that's what it was—_perfect_. Their relationship, their love.

He was the reason why she felt like a million galleons, why she felt like she could fly without a broomstick, why she felt like the air was filled with the sweetest aroma. He just loved her, always and forever, she knew that. She had always known that. And now she felt so stupid for forgetting it that split second.

And the best part was that he'd promised that they would soon get to exclaim it to the world; that they would show everyone how madly in love they were with one another.

"Well, someone's happy."

"Yeah, what gives?" Distracting herself away from her daydreams, Dominique noticed two of her fellow Gryffindors join her around their house-table. "Everyone who was at that party yesterday night got seriously disciplined, how can you be smiling through that?"

"That's because she didn't get caught, you dunce." Grabbing one of the many bowls of cereal, Lily Potter rolled her eyes at Louis. "And if you _were _intelligent, like her, you wouldn't have gotten in trouble either. But no, there you went. Puking your guts out in the boys lavatory, smelling like cheap liquor when Professor Binns was floating through."

Louis sulked in his seat, shaking his blonde hair as he looked at his cousin and sister with a defeated expression. "McGonagall's going to be owling Mum and Dad by tonight. I'm done for it."

"It'll be alright, we won't go on summer holiday until three months. I'm sure the anger will fade somewhat by then," Lily replied optimistically for him, but not believing it one bit. (Her Uncle Bill had the temper of a werewolf, no pun intended.)

Nodding along with her Fourth Year cousin, Dominique put a comforting hand on her little brother's shoulder. She smiled softly at him.

Louis scoffed underneath his breath, shrugging off her hand as he scowled as he reached for a goblet of pumpkin juice. "…Too bloody happy," he grumbled. "Every one is, and _I'm_ royally screwed over."

"James got in trouble too, you know?" Lily spoke, chewing loudly. "Won't that make you feel better?"

And knowing perfectly well that it _wouldn't_ make him feel better, because his cousin pride himself in these stunts, Louis was about to retort back about how she could stuff it, when his eyes caught a glimpse of something ahead. "Well, would you look at that. The king of shots is looking perfectly chipper in the morning. Damn git."

Being snapped away from enjoying her plate of eggs more happily than what was normal, Dominique turned to look where Louis pointed, a smile on her face from her bubbly soul. But just as she did, just as she spared a second to Louis' frustration with the world, her smile withered away.

Standing at the entrance doors of the Great Hall was Teddy Lupin, a bright smile on his face, his hair especially colorful, and leaning towards a girl and capturing her lips without a care in the world. Making a show for the rest of the school, in the process of making the girl famous for kissing the Seventh Year Gryffindor.

"Lucky prat, gets all the witches," Louis frowned. "All I get is Alice Longbottom telling her fellow Hufflepuffs that I pressured her to snog me. _Pfft_."

She was sure the wind was knocked out of her body, her chest contracting within like someone had just stomped on it. Her eyes burning with tears of betrayal, with the feel of her heart shattering again and her soul dying inside of her.

'…_I love you more than words could explain, Dom. I don't want anyone else but you.'_

Gritting her teeth together to keep her sobs from coming out, she had to smile with her eyes when a few Gryffindor friends sat around her, all of them making causal conversation like the world was beautiful and she wasn't breaking in her seat.

Sometimes it lasts in love or sometimes it hurts instead, another thing Dominique figured out about relationships.

_I hear you're asking all around_

_ If I am anywhere to be found _

_But I have grown too strong _

_To ever fall back in your arms_

A year ago she took a trip with her Granddad Arthur to the shopping centers of muggle London. She'd been secretly fascinated with the world they lived in as her grandfather searched for a contraption called a 'DVD'; something he wanted to pack into an automobile he'd been keeping hushed up from his wife. It was in a moment when she decided to wait for him outside a shop when she spotted a couple arguing, the man being especially harsh to the girl. She eavesdropped against the manners that she'd been taught, listening thoroughly as the man shouted insults at the muggle-girl; telling her he did not care for her tears.

She had never heard the phrase 'Cry me a river', and in that moment she wondered how absurd that had been, how stupid the muggle-man sounded then and there. The possibility of the girl actually crying a river was impossible, and Dominique came from a world where everything was possible.

But now, now as she slouched in a deserted corridor, hugging her knees and letting her tears fall so shamelessly, so easily down her face, did she believe that it was possible. Possible to cry so much.

She should've known, she knows that much now. She should have protected herself from it, because he'd already broken her heart once, he surely had the power to do it again. She gave it to him, that power. How could she have been so stupid? How could she just allow it to happen, why hadn't she ran and taken refuge in the safety of the thick walls of Hogwarts instead of facing him?

No answer.

All she could think of, instead of beating herself up, was that love blinded most people. Her Grandmother Delacour had said that much about her experiences in love. She had warned her, she had told her of her mistakes. But she fell, Dominique tumbled and crashed.

She was forever going to keep rolling in the darkness, free-falling for all time through gravity. Hitting all kinds of despair on her way down.

And as she wallowed away in tears and permanent misery, she did not hear the steps that were sounding on the ground and making their way towards her. She didn't see the shadow reflecting off the long corridor from the fire-light, or did not hear when the footsteps stopped.

"_Ehem_."

Picking her head up from her kneecaps, Dominique's glistening eyes met a pair of clouded ones. The boy's pale face twisted with indifference.

"Are you okay?" He asked her, clearing his throat slightly as he tried not to linger looking into her eyes, knowing perfectly well that she had, and still continued to cry.

Dominique sniffled, rubbing the back of her hand over her nose and then on one of her cheeks. She gave him a nod, hugging her knees tighter to her.

He cleared his throat again, his expression somber as he took a step back. Almost like he was afraid she'd start sobbing hysterically at any given second. "Well, I was just passing through."

But right before the girl could bury her head back between her knees, he felt a sudden flash of regret. Of humility. "You shouldn't cry," he said to her, firm and low. "If anyone sees you, they'll end up calling you Moaning Myrtle the rest of your years here."

An odd noise came from her, something sounding like a chuckle or a puff of air.

"Look, whatever it is…I, erm…I'm sure you'll get past it, yeah?" He continued, still no other emotion passing through him except the glitter of discomfort. "It'll be fine."

Dominique looked up at him, at that boy she didn't really know, blinking away her tears and spreading them. She looked at him with all the faith in the world radiating far and away from her; staring like she expected for him to stop it. To justify his comment, to give her solid proof that she would be alright.

And again, he took a step back. He was just a stranger, a passerby. She was asking too much with her broken gaze.

She knew that too, so fresh tears fell down her cheeks.

Rolling his eyes, a frustrated curse passing his lips like a mumble, he dropped his schoolbag on the ground and proceeded to take a hesitant seat next to her. "Take it day by day, alright?" He whispered to her, copying her action and lifting his knees up to his chest; looking at her from an angle. "It's a process."

She cried more, silently as she clutched tighter onto her legs like if that were keeping her from falling apart. How could she take it day by day, how was it a process if she was going to be stuck in this heartbreak forever? How could she possibly go on if every second that ticked by, every minute that slipped, she died a little more?

Not knowing what else to say, he sighed in resignation with himself. There was just no cure, nothing right to say at this point. He doubted that if he'd even known her a little better, known more than just her name and what house she belonged to, anything would've helped. So gently he put an arm around her shoulder, his fingers rubbing softly.

"Don't cry," he murmured to her, lifting his free hand towards her face and with the same softness in which he'd spoken, he wiped away the tears on her face. Removing all the wetness, just the redness of her eyes as evidence of her watery sadness.

Inhaling in, trying to control it, she nodded once again.

"—Come on, it's that way."

"—I know what way it is, relax, love."

But just as she figured she could control her tears, Dominique's ears filled with the haunting voice of her suffering.

With energetic footsteps on the marbled ground, Teddy Lupin appeared in that isolated corridor with the same witch he'd been snogging in the morning. Both their hands clutched together, glued to the mouth again until they noticed that two students seating on the ground together.

"Opps," the witch giggled, looking momentarily startled. "Looks like we interrupted something, Ted."

Not replying to her, just letting the girl drag him more and more away from them, Teddy's blue eyes narrowed at the two; a flicker of anger crossing his pupils. But alas, he said nothing nor spared Dominique another look.

And as their voices began to sound further away, Dominique shut her eyes tightly and let herself cry all over again.

'…_I would never hurt you, my love. Ever. You're my everything, remember that forever and all eternity.'_

The boy reeled her in tighter, now knowing why she cried. Heartache was always a bitch, in every way and form.

And as she was being held by that stranger, just as she continued to cry her own bottomless river, Dominique knew then and there that love will always hurt, and that was unavoidable.

_And it took so long just to feel alright_

_ Remember how to put back the light in my eyes _

_I wish I had missed the first time that we kissed_

She was standing at the edge of the Astronomy Tower, looking high in the night sky. She watched all the stars sparkle, all the glory of the moon gleam, and let the almost-summer wind push through her hair. Her Uncle Harry's invisibility cloak sat next to her feet, along with a lie of how she came to obtain it.

It was curfew, the lights had gone out, but there she was. Seeking for her moment of complete isolation, needing it like the air in her lungs.

Nine days had passed, but her heart still ached. Everything still hurt exactly the same way it had when her heart had first broke.

That boy had lied to her.

A day by day process? Yeah, right. She was going to need a lifetime. A lifetime to forget everything that Teddy had given her, to forget every memory that gripped the inside of her brain-cells and refused to let go; almost like incurable cancer.

'_But I don't want to go.'_

'_Lily, I do not care if you don't.' Trying to keep her patience, Ginny Potter looked firmly at her daughter. 'This is a family visit, alright?'_

_And against her better judgment, Lily glared at her mother. 'I'm the only one going, how's that fair?'_

'_James is going.'_

'_Who cares about James!' Lily snorted in response, still pushing her mother's limits with her scowling and whining. 'Al's off with his friend and Teddy's gone somewhere. I have a life too, Mum.'_

_But before Mrs. Potter could lose the patience that'd been running on empty the more Lily talked, her husband and son entered from the kitchen of their home. 'Lily, please don't aggravate your mother. Besides, we haven't seen your Uncle Charlie in about a year, this is important.'_

_Lily narrowed her eyes. '…Yeah, since his stupid kid let that dragon loose on me," she grumbled, but did not continue to protest more as her mother gripped her hand._

_The sounds of _cracks _invaded the walls, and alas, the Potters were gone._

_And having had witness the little interaction before their departure, hidden away in the corner of the hall, Teddy Lupin came into view. A crooked grin on his face—finally, home alone._

"_They're gone," he said as soon as he opened the door to his room, so much confidence oozing out as he knew that every corner of the house was now empty and at his disposal. _

_Crossing her knees over one another as she sat in the middle of his bed, the girl on it felt slightly uneasy. Her pale face showing exactly that as she gave him a half-hearted smile._

"_You're concerned," he replied, already knowing perfectly well what was going through her head. "Don't be."_

_But she was, she really, really was. She felt it the moment she'd snuck her way up his room, dodging every turn that the Potters would make as she headed towards her location. All the lies she had to tell her parents of where she was, of who she was with. She just couldn't help but feeling like this was wrong, the secrecy of everything._

"…_Do you ever think what would happen if they found out about us?" He asked her, his brown eyes staring at her seriously; his back pressed against the doorframe of his closed door. "I_ _do," he whispered, knowing she was not about to answer. "They would try to keep us from each other, I know it."_

_She bit her lip, his comment sinking into her head._

"_You know it's true. And I…I can't be without you, _ever_."_

_She nodded slowly, the sincerity in his eyes making her feel like he was right. So she stretched her hand towards him, signaling that she wanted him closer to her, next to her. She couldn't be without him either._

_Teddy walked towards her smoothly, crawling onto his bed with ease. His palm pushing the hair on the side of her face behind her right ear. He stared into her emerald eyes, the beauty of them so innocent. So fragile, so pure. _

_And she was all his, whenever he wished it be._

_He smiled lightly at her, his thumb running gently on her cheek as he leaned towards her. He captured her lips quick in a kiss, making it passionate and soft._

_This was the epitome of happiness, of love, and of all those beautiful feelings that someone can create in your chest. Dominique knew that, she knew it in that very instant. The way she felt shivers along her spine as he pressed his body into hers, the way he kissed her with neediness, the way he just wanted her so much. How he wanted _her_, no one else. _

_Being with him was like flying, like laying in a bed of petals and clouds._

_And it scared her._

_She turned her head, pressing her hand against his chest as his fingers had found their way towards the buttons of her shorts. Her heart was beating fast in that panic, in that fear of taking it too far._

"_I love you," Teddy murmured to her, his heart thumping loudly too against her hand. "Don't you love me, Dom?"_

_Of course she did, how could he even ask? Her feelings for him were too strong, were too much for her chest to handle on an everyday basis, and he knew that…Right?_

_She held his fingers, preventing him from getting to the buttons._

_He stared at her sweetly, his eyes glowing. "I would never hurt you, my love. You are my everything, you know that."_

_And with the way he smiled, and with the way his heart beat some part of her knew it had to be true. He did love her, so she let go of his fingers and rested her back against his bed. Closing her eyes as her heart banged and banged inside of her as she gave him absolutely everything._

Sometimes in relationships and in love, Dominique learned that you had to follow your instincts, no one else's. And that boys would say the damnedest things to take everything you had in return for five minutes of what they thought was heaven.

_Cause you broke all your promises_

_And now you're back_

_You don't get to get me back_

She was seating in her regular table in the library, once again trying to concentrate on some of the notes for her final exam soon. And like always, she was having a hard time paying attention, but this time because of the noise inside the room rather than painful matters. It seemed that students took advantage when Madame Pince exited the library for a few minutes for a quick meeting to act like an universal common room.

Usually, she was all up for house integration and chatting up with her friends whenever and wherever, but time had flew past her that she'd gotten knocked down on her ass. And before she could blink, before she could even ask what the hell had happened, the term was four weeks from ending; thus the dire need to study.

"Mind if I sit here?"

And almost like it had been destiny's call for her not to get a moment of silence, Dominique looked up to find a pair of stormy eyes looking intensely at her. A smile on the face that owned them.

She couldn't resist, she smiled too.

As he was seating himself down, opening his schoolbag to look for his own books, he flickered his eyes at her once more. "I thought we were dividing this?" He asked her, putting his work on the surface of the table. "The studying, Weasley. You're going to overwhelm yourself with all of that."

She rolled her eyes at him.

"You're not Merlin, you know?" He laughed at her smugly, opening up his Charms book. "No gifted intelligence to memorize all that in an hour of your free period."

She scowled.

"It's the truth," he went on.

Scowling deeper, she threw him a crude gesture as she looked back down at her book. She hated to admit it, because he'd just insulted her and all, but he was right. The more time she was focusing herself to focus on her studying, the more she memorized nothing. Where had all her time gone, and what the hell had happened with her head that none of the subjects had stuck?

And as she took in a deep breath, flipped the page, he watched her with a little coy smile at the edge of his mouth. Knowing the answer that she was looking for the previous second.

He didn't exactly know why he knew it, or what had brought him to even be around her to know it, but he didn't say much about what he _did _know. It was just ironic to him how one moment of helping someone at their lowest could make you friends or something close to it.

He watched her despite his reflex to leave and never speak to her, and he knew that she had healed; even though she couldn't see it. Even when she hadn't paused for a second and thought back to how much time had passed, and how far she had gotten.

"You look pretty today."

She looked up, brows furrowing.

He cleared his throat, realizing in that moment that his thoughts had been voiced. That he'd let it slip that he saw that sort of shine now that wasn't there when he found her crying in that empty corridor weeks ago.

But before he could explain himself or she could ask what that meant exactly, a chair was pulled out next to him. Someone appearing that seemed to make time freeze and make their skins crawl. (Different reasons they had, of course.)

"There's a table more fitting for you on the other side of the library, mate, why don't you go find it," Teddy Lupin said to the boy seating on his left. "Now would be great."

"Sure," he replied through his teeth, through his commonsense. He rose from his seat, grabbing his books, but not before giving Dominique a hesitant look. A stare of worry and a defeat of his own. "Day by day, Weasley," he said to her with a low voice, aiming a glare at the older student who motioned for him to leave already.

As soon as the boy with the stormy eyes had left, she felt her back tense, her mouth start to go dry as Teddy's famous color-changing eyes penetrated hers.

"You've been avoiding me," he got straight to the point, leaning a little closer towards the table as a few students passed by. "_Why_?"

She swallowed roughly, trying to find her voice, trying to steady her breathing.

But not being able to see the signs of discomfort, of mourning in the girl's expression, Teddy glared. "For him?" He asked her, crossing his arms. "Since when are you friends with him, Dom? It's not right—pathetic is the word, actually."

And almost like something had snapped inside of her in that second, in that way that her heart wasn't pumping pain, wasn't beating with grief and depression, she felt instantly infuriated. Staring at him with her wide eyes incredulously, like she could murder him then and there.

_How dare he?_

She scoffed, her eyes filling with angry tears as she shook her head. In that second of disbelief, she picked up her books and notes, stuffing it all inside her schoolbag in a hurry to get away.

"Oi, wait, wait." But before she could, Teddy stopped her. He reached over and took the strap of her bag before she could throw it on her shoulder. "Dom, please." His electric-blue eyes had faded into a puppy-like brown, glazing over with something as he looked at her with a hurt expression. "I just…I miss you."

She narrowed her eyes.

He sighed a bit, a ragged sound as he swallowed roughly. "I miss you too much, Dom." He slackened the hold on her bag-strap, still glancing up at her like he had been living in misery. "I just wanted to let you know that. Just wanted to let you know that…I'm _nothing _without you."

She took a step back, pulling her schoolbag from his hold, and without saying anything to him, without sparing him or his sad gaze another look, she turned on her heels and left. Not letting him see the confusion that had pooled into her head.

But as she headed away from him, his words lingering inside her eardrums, Dominique realized that it had been two months now. And that maybe, in heartache, time really does help to heal it.

_Who do you think you are?_

_Running 'round leaving scars_

_Collecting your jar of hearts_

_And tearing love apart_

It was two hours past midnight as she tip-toed her way down the staircase of the girls dormitories, peeking to see if the Gryffindor Common Room was empty and at her disposal. She just needed a moment to herself, where she could think clearly without one of her house-mates snores interrupting every time she came close to a resolution.

And just like it was her luck, everything was quiet and no student was in sight.

She smiled a little to herself in relief, marching her way towards the comfiest armchair in the room.

_So much is different now_, she thought to herself as she sat down, picking up her legs onto the seat and raising her knees to her chest. Her green eyes focusing into the flames of the fireplace, the heat not really bothering her as the summer night air flew in through the open window of the tower. There was just too much to evaluate, so much to think back to.

Another week and a half had passed—another ten days to the so many she'd lost count of. Days that seemed to have gone by without notice, without any thought, without any pain. And the thought of that was _insane_: all that hurt she had been living in, all those tears she had shed, what happened to them?

Blinking once from her concentration on the flames, her gaze landed for a second on the center table, a squared parchment resting upon the surface. It was small and clean, and she instantly recognized the beautiful handwriting that marked her name on it.

It was him, that boy with the cloudy-eyes that had somehow stuck with her.

She reached over for the parchment, a little tingle in her chest as she took it from the table. Pulling her knees up to her chest once more, she unfolded the letter.

_Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it's letting go. _

She smiled sweetly at that note, folding it again as she could hear him say it to her. How she could already imagine the tone he would use, how soft it would be, and how happy it would make her inside.

"You're up late." Turning her head to the left, that serene feeling in her chest was instantly loss as a familiar Seventh Year entered through the portrait-hole; adjusting his robes and running a hand through his turquoise-colored hair. Trying to remove any trace of someone else's touch and scent on him.

"Don't you have your last exam tomorrow? Shouldn't you be sleeping?" Teddy added like if he was concerned, stopping at the edge of her armchair.

_Thump, thump, thump_, her heart beat with an uneasiness. The smell of him reaching her nostrils; a smell she used to love. But with everything that had happened, with the clear mind she now seemed to own, she could smell something else. _Someone else_. And it was in that moment that she laughed to herself, letting a smirk appear on her face at the humor of the situation.

How could she have not seen it before? How stupid had he made her?

"Listen, Dom, I've been thinking," he interrupted her inner turmoil, kneeling beside her. "I know that I haven't been the ideal boyfriend here, and I know that I've acted like a bloody git with you, but I…I'm sorry."

She narrowed her eyes at him, staring at him with nothingness.

Teddy inhaled once, catching that look that held flickers of anger. He knew her too well, no matter how long she tried to hold the mask up. He knew how to rip it away from her, how to make her into that naïve girl that was all his. "…I know you're probably tired of hearing me say this, but, Dom, I love you. I need you." Slowly, his fingers found her forearm; holding her gently. "Can't you forgive me? Can't we start over?"

'_There comes a time, my grandchild, when you realize that you deserve better than what he can give you. Because attempts of love, Dominique, aren't as powerful as when someone surrenders everything they have to you.'_

A softening glow glazed over her eyes for a moment, the memory of her Grandmother Weasley speaking to her about an old flame that she'd let go for her own sanity, for her health. She had been so strong, so clear, and the universe repaid her by leading her to her Grandfather.

Life had given her true love for the time she wasted suffering.

"…I love you," he repeated in her silence.

Taking in a deep breath, Dominique stood from the chair with a sense of strength in her bones that she hadn't felt ever before.

She took Teddy's fingers and gripped them a little too tightly, and then tore them away from her skin. Never wanting to feel him touch her again, never wanting to hear his deceiving words.

She shook her head at him, nothing to be said as she turned towards the direction of her dormitory.

And leaving him behind, her head a little higher than accustomed when his presence is near, Dominique learned that sometimes love is blind. And it takes a few tears to clear the fog that prevents you to see the truth.

_You're gonna catch a cold_

_From the ice inside your soul_

_Don't come back for me_

_Don't come back at all_

"Finally, three of you out of here."

"And you do know what that means, right, mate?" James looked mischievously at Louis who was nudging his older sister. "Let me give you a clue: no more gossiping witches to pass on our little adventures to our mothers."

Victorie and Molly exchanged an eye roll, both of them quickly annoyed with the ongoing party James and Louis were having over their graduation from Hogwarts.

"You do know Victoire will remind Aunt Fleur about your little…_drunken _incident with Professor Binns, right, Louis?" And inside the compartment with his family, sitting patiently before the Hogwarts Express stopped and his summer holiday would commence, Al Potter leered brightly at the now two Seventh Years. "And you, brother, you're mental if you think Mum will forget about everything else you've done in the year."

And seated in the furthest end of the compartment, Dominique grinned as Victorie smacked their little brother on the head; her crazy family acting like everything was perfectly normal. Like it had been another year filled of pranks, of laughs, of parties, of drinks, and of normal teenage happiness. None of them with a clue that _she _had been to hell and back in that year, and things were far from normal for her. She had lost so much, and had to learn how to repair what had been torn from her.

"Yes, we're here!" Molly exclaimed as she lifted herself from her seat, pushing James back down as he suddenly looked a little terrified. (He must've realized that outside the metal contraption, Ginny Potter awaited with a lecture and scolding that would last a summer.)

But as Dominique watched them all struggling with one another, she saw a palm extend towards her. "Need help?" A pair of cloudy eyes blinked at her, a smile not far behind it.

And as she smiled in return, Dominique knew in that instant that she'd in fact lost a lot, so much of it viciously torn from her, but that she had also gained a few things in return.

"This summer's going to be fairly interesting, don't you think?" He asked her as they headed for the compartment door together, Al hurrying them from the other side as the pool of students started overflowing the aisles already. "A lot of shocks, mainly."

She laughed a little, pushing her red hair behind her ears as he allowed her first exit.

"—I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you more, love." And as she waited for her cousins to move forward, trying to make their way towards the exit doors of the train, Dominique spotted that boy with the famous colored-hair holding hands with a girl—a girl she could already figure how her heart was going to look like in a few weeks after Teddy Lupin was done with it. "I promise we'll see each other soon, I can't be without you for too long."

He leaned in to kiss her, holding her in such a way that would make that girl feel special, make her feel like she indeed was the only one; like there was nothing more magnificent than the way he felt for her.

All lies—ones Dominique knew so well.

"I can see my mother from here." Bringing her back to her stance, the boy with the cloudy eyes shook his head as they were that much closer to stepping on the concrete floor of Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. "Oh, for Merlin's sake, she brought my grandparents. This means family dinner."

At all the irritation suddenly creeping into his voice, Dominique took his hand. She laced her fingers with his, squeezing lightly until he looked down at her. And with the glory that those silver eyes were to her, to all the happiness that they seemed to awaken inside of her, she smiled with everything good she had inside. With everything pure that was left that Teddy Lupin had not taken.

"…I'll miss you," he murmured in an awkward tone, clearing his throat soon after. "But I will see you, Dom, I promise." With his free hand, he reached over and touched her cheek gently. "I don't think I can…be without you now."

Feeling a jitter in her heart, Dominique gave his fingers another squeeze and then took a step towards him and wrapped her arms around his neck. She had to tip-toe a bit to reach him, pushing his blonde hair out of the way as she held on tightly. Breathing him in, all that sincerity.

Through the year, she'd gone through so much that it had emotionally and physically exhausted her. She had experienced things that she wouldn't wish upon her worst enemy, because the pain the heart can feel is uncontainable, so unbearable that you feel like dying everyday. Time does not go forward, does not move back, so the pain stays.

But something that she had learned was that for every heartbreak, for every withering soul, something comes along to repair all damages. Something like hope, like a miracle. And even though harm had been done to you, that never means that one should lose faith in love and in the good within others.

Not every one was the same, and it was all about taking a risk. Of taking a chance. And if that did not prevail, then that was another lesson learned, another point towards your strength to help you overcome the next one. But that was it, there would _always _be a next one.

And it was about you to believe or disregard it; to let someone else love you.

Pulling away from his warmth, people ushering them forward, desperate to get off the train, Dominique continued to hold his hand as they made their way out. "I believe you, Scorpius."

And she really did.


End file.
